The M/V Tustumena is named after the Tustumena Glacier, located on the Kenai Peninsula. The vessel was designed by Phillip F. Spaulding and Associates of Seattle, Washington and constructed in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 1964. It was built with an elevator capable of loading and unloading vehicles without a ramp. In 1969 a prefabricated 54 foot mid-body section was added, lengthening the vessel to its current size. The Tustumena is the smallest AMHS vessel with cabins and is one of only two certified ocean class ferries in the Alaska Marine Highway System fleet. For comfort and safety the ship is equipped with gyroscopic fin stabilizers to reduce rolling. The Tustumena is 296 feet long and 59 feet wide, with a domestic gross tonnage of 2,174 and a service speed of 13.3 knots.
The Tustumena is designed to carry 160 passengers and has a vehicle capacity of 680 linear feet, which is equal to approximately 34 twenty-foot vehicles. There are 6 four-berth and 17 two-berth cabins, as well as 1 wheelchair-accessible cabin. The Tustumena is equipped with a dining room offering sit down food service, observation lounges, a covered heated solarium, a movie lounge, and showers.
As the only mainline ferry in South-central Alaska and the Aleutian Chain, it principally runs between Kodiak, Seldovia, Port Lions, and Homer with Homer providing a road link to the other communities on the Kenai Peninsula. The only interruptions from this schedule occur when making a voyage out the Aleutian Chain (the Aleutian Chain run consists of the communities of Akutan, Chignik, Cold Bay, False Pass, King Cove, Sand Point, and Unalaska/Dutch Harbor) which the vessel undergoes eight times a year all of which occur during the summer as winter weather becomes too dangerous.
In the fall of 2012, the Tustumena went into scheduled maintenance at the dry-docks of Seward Alaska. Several found issues pushed her return from service from the original May 29th to a planned July 23rd, leaving the state without a ship available to do her run. The return to service was delayed twice more, due to the discovery of serious issues with the vessel’s steel and further delays at the shipyard. The ship missed the entire summer season and was not returned to service until October. Given the age of the vessel, and her extended time in dry-dock, the State is looking to find or build a replacement vessel, design work began in the fall of 2013 but was not completed until early 2016. The vessel is planned to be largely funded by the federally-funded Alaska Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, and is not slated to begin construction before 2019.
In 2017, scheduled repairs once again revealed serious issues. It was found that the steel on the car deck needed to be replaced entirely and the vessel was delayed from returning to service. During the course of that work being done, rusted and pitted steel was also discovered in the engine room, and the vessel is not expected to return to service until mid-August, missing the bulk of the summer season. The M/V Kennicott provided services between Homer and Seldovia and Kodiak on a limited schedule. A private carrier provided freight service to the Aleutian islands but was not permitted for passenger transport.